Marriage

Now that I am in my twenties, it is the time that my friends start getting married, getting children and enter the serious life of commitment. In order not to offend anybody, I will not give my extensive view on having kids, I'd like to talk about marriage instead.
Among most of the girls, marriage is the most romantic thing ever. They start by staging it with their dolls and role playing. I remember too well our little role family in kindergarten, for some reason I was always the father... Anyway, my first experience with dolls was when Barbies came around, and I think I just hopped on the bandwagon, I played with Barbies because everybody else did - but I never had Ken nor did I want one.

Maybe my childhood was the base of my aversion to marriage. Maybe aversion is a too strong word. I don't have anything against it, if you really want to get married - do, but don't complain about it later. The thing is that people change, most of them anyway. People are not meant to be together forever. Their interests, personalities and desires change over the years and it is only natural that their taste in others also changes. Of course, there are exceptions where people really stay together happily 'until death shall them part' and I wish them all the best.

However, I don't really think that marriage has any romantic value in it. Of course, people say that it is wonderful that two people swear commitment to each other and share responsibility, but I find it much more romantic if they are committed and loving without the legal binder. I find staying together out of love is much more valuable than out of legal obligation.

The only times when getting married makes sense to me is when your lover is about to be deported from the country or if you have children, because of the legal and financial issues.